Nicolas Anelka will discover in the next 24 hours if he is to be charged by the Football Association for performing the 'quenelle', a gesture with overt anti-Semitic connotations.

The most likely outcome is that he will be charged with racially aggravated misconduct, and if found guilty would face a ban of at least five matches under new regulations.

Anelka is expected to be in the West Bromwich Albion squad for tonight's night’s Premier League game against Everton at The Hawthorns, a decision that may imperil a £3m a-year sponsorship deal with property website Zoopla.

Zoopla, co-founded by an American Jewish businessman Alex Chesterman, is reported to have threatened to withdraw its support for the club.

Anelka used the controversial gesture on December 28 after scoring against West Ham, the first time many observers in England had been exposed to it.

He said the gesture was in support of its inventor, comedian Dieudonne M'Bala M’Bala, and has promised not to repeat it.

Comedian Dieudonne M'Bala M'Bala is banned from performing in France

Dieudonne is a hugely controversial figure in France who has been banned from performing because his act, and the salute, is considered anti-Semitic.

The comedian, who has multiple convictions for inciting racial hatred, claims the 'quenelle' is an anti-establishment gesture, but it is widely interpreted in France as an inverted Nazi salute.

His fans have photographed themselves performing it outside Auschwitz, the Holocaust memorials in Paris and Berlin, and outside synagogues, including one in Toulouse where three children were shot by gunman Mohamed Merah.

Dieudonne’s appeal is complex but undeniable. He has become a rallying point for both the anti-Semitic and many young people from France’s immigrant communities who feel excluded from the political mainstream.

When the first show of his national tour in Nantes was cancelled following legal action by the French interior minister around 3,000 fans protested, many of them young men of north African extraction.

Youths perform the controversial gesture

Anelka's intervention certainly raised the profile of Dieudonne and the 'quenelle' debate in France, where the footballer is a far bigger star than the comedian.

For the FA the complexities of French racial politics have required careful navigation, and they have called in an academic to advise them.

The case is the highest-profile test for new anti-discrimination regulations introduced in the wake of bans handed to John Terry and Luis Suarez. They received bans of four and eight matches respectively for racial abusing opponents.

In an attempt to formalise their approach, the FA has introduced a minimum five-match ban as a starting point for future cases.

The Anelka case is substantially different in that it relates to a gesture aimed at a wider audience rather than an opponent, and may lead to the FA examining how it deals with those who use the platform of the game to make political statements.